Auger snow-removing machines having an auger housed in an auger housing at the front end of a machine body are known. The auger snow-removing machine, as it travels forward, is able to collect snow using the auger and throw the collected snow via a shooter to a distant place using a blower. A typical example of such auger snow-removing machines is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication (JP-A) No. 2004-360379.
The disclosed auger snow-removing machine includes a forward rotation shaft provided with a forward rotation auger and a reverse rotation shaft provided with a reverse rotation auger that are disposed on the same axis and aligned in a width direction of an auger housing within the auger housing. The forward rotation shaft and the reverse rotation shaft are rotated concurrently in opposite directions by a driving force transmitted from a transmission disposed inside the auger housing.
The transmission is comprised of an input shaft to which a driving force from an engine is inputted, a reverse rotation drive shaft connected to the reverse rotation shaft, a forward rotation drive shaft connected to the forward rotation shaft, a driving gear provided on the input shaft, a first driven gear provided on the reverse rotation drive shaft and meshing with the driving gear, a counter gear meshing with the first driven gear, an idle gear mechanism for converting rotation of the counter gear to a reverse rotation, a second driven gear provided on the forward rotation drive shaft and meshing with an output gear of the idle gear mechanism, and a case that houses the foregoing members.
The input shaft is arranged to extend in a front-rear direction of the auger housing. The reverse rotation drive shaft and the forward rotation drive shaft extend in the width direction of the auger housing. The counter gear and the idle gear mechanism are positioned rearward of the reverse rotation drive shaft.
The case is composed of a left case member and a right case member that are separated in a longitudinal or axial direction of the reverse rotation drive shaft. With this arrangement, these parts of the case which are provided for retaining bearings or seals are to be formed on both the left case member and the right case member in an axially aligned condition. To secure a desired level of machining accuracy, it is preferable that the bearing/seal retaining parts are subjected to a machining process while the left and right case members are kept in an assembled state. However, such machining process is not fully satisfactory in terms of the workability of the case, machining accuracy of the bearing/seal retaining parts, and the sealing property of the seal retaining parts.
It may be considered that the case is divided into a front case member and a rear case member at a position before the reverse rotation drive shaft. In this case, the counter gear and the idle gear mechanism are assembled in the rear case member. This arrangement, however, brings about low assembly workability.
An attempt may be made to arrange the counter gear and the idle gear mechanism ahead of the reverse rotation drive shaft. However, the attempted arrangement will result in a case having a front end largely projecting forward from the reverse rotation drive shaft within the auger housing, allowing snow to adhere to and stay on a front part of the case as the snow is collected by the auger toward a widthwise center of the auger housing.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an auger snow-removing machine which is capable of preventing snow from adhering to and staying on a transmission case during snow-removing operation by an auger while keeping desired levels of sealing property, workability and machining accuracy of the transmission case.